John Merrow sees a common thread in the educational philosophies of Hitler, Stalin, Castro and most red state governors: They want to control the beliefs of students. They want them to believe what they are told. They do not want them to think for themselves. They want to indoctrinate students. They “weaponize schools” by using them for thought control.
This is an important article. It shows how governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis are not interested in freedom of thought but in censorship. He and his confreres are moving us ever closer to fascism.
Merrow begins:
“Whoever has the youth has the future.” Adolf Hitler
“Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Josef Stalin
“Revolution and education are the same thing.” Fidel Castro
Like Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, and Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin is following a well-trod path, using Russia’s 40,000 schools to train all Russian children to believe what they are told and follow orders. Here in some American states, public schools are also being weaponized, but in different ways….
Here in the United States, public education and public school teachers are squarely in the sights of some Republican politicians. Instead of echoing Putin or Hitler, they are waving the flag of “Parents’ Rights.”
Among the Republicans waging what should properly be called a war against public education are Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Greg Abbott of Texas, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Doug Ducey of Arizona, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Brad Little in Idaho, Eric Holcomb in Indiana, and Kim Reynolds of Iowa.
They are eagerly copying Glenn Youngkin, the conservative who was elected Virginia’s governor in 2021 largely because he presented himself as a staunch defender of parents and their children–and by extension the entire community–against ‘indoctrination’ by leftist teachers who, Youngkin said, were making white children feel guilty about being white.
So-called “Critical Race Theory” is not taught in public schools, but that’s not stopping the politicians from using it as a whipping boy. Florida’s DeSantis put it this way: “Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools.” And Florida has now banned a number of math textbooks, accusing the publishers of trying to indoctrinate children with Critical Race Theory.
A blogger who’s particularly upset, Michael McCaffrey, put it this way:
“Indoctrinating children with CRT is akin to systemic child abuse, as it steals innocence, twists minds, and crushes spirits. Parents must move heaven and earth to protect their children, and they can start by coming together and rooting out CRT from their schools by any and all legal means necessary.”
In the name of “defeating” CRT, Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee has invited Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution based in Michigan, to create 50 charter schools in Tennessee with public funds, including $32 million for facilities. As the New York Times reported, Governor Lee believes these schools will develop “informed patriotism” in Tennessee’s children.
It’s not just CRT. Republican politicians are also campaigning against transgender athletes, transgender bathrooms, mental health counseling, any discussion of sexuality, and the “right” of parents to examine and veto school curriculums. While I have written about these issues here, it’s important to remember that less than 2% of students identify as transgender or gender-fluid…
It’s not difficult to connect the dots: Republicans are attacking public schools, accusing them of ‘grooming’ their children to be gay, of making white children ashamed of their race, of undermining American patriotism and pride, and more. One goal is to persuade more parents to home-school their children, or enroll them in non-union Charter Schools, or use vouchers to pay non-public school tuition. Public school enrollment will drop, teachers will be laid off, teacher union revenue will decline, and less money will flow to Democrats.
But it seems to me that their real target is not parents but potential voters who do not have any connection with public education. Remember that in most communities about 75% of households do not have school-age children; many of these folks are older, and older people vote! If Republicans can convince these potential voters that schools cannot be trusted, they will win.
And Republicans seem to be winning. Teacher morale is low, and teachers are leaving the field in droves. Florida and California will have significant teacher shortages this fall, and one state, New Mexico, had to call in the National Guard to serve as substitutes. Enrollment is declining at institutions that train their replacements, and student enrollment in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles public schools dropped for the second consecutive year.
I began by contrasting the approach of dictators like Putin, Hitler and Stalin with the strategies being employed by Republican politicians. However, there are also disturbing similarities. Florida’s DeSantis, now polling strongly for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, recently signed legislation requiring public high schools to devote 45 minutes to teaching students about “the victims of Communism.”
Florida has also passed two bills limiting classroom conversations about race and racism and restricting younger students’ access to lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity, but Florida is not alone. The newspaper Education Week reports that fifteen states have passed similar legislation over the past year, and 26 others have introduced bills attempting to restrict these lessons.
Forbidding discussion of Topic X and mandating discussion of Topic Y: That’s exactly what Mao, Hitler, Stalin, and Castro did, and it’s precisely what Putin is now doing.
Please post your thoughts here: https://themerrowreport.com/2022/07/29/weaponizing-public-schools/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I truly RESENT this article of yours!!! Castro brought about universal education for all Cubans FOR FREE. Cuba rates the highest literacy rate of ALL of the Americasâ¦and this is confirmed by the UN. Vera Gottlieb Switzerland
Time to listen to that which we would rather not hear. Vera Gottlieb
>
Universal education is wonderful, Vera.
But so is freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, and the right to a fair trial.
Don’t you agree, Vera?
Before the successful revolution led by Fidel Castro, Cuba served as America’s bordello, casino, and haven for America’s criminal class. Castro liberated Cuba from U.S. political/economic domination, and that’s why the U.S. has waged non-stop economic warfare against Cuba ever since. Freedom of speech, thought, and religion don’t count for much to American citizens living in poverty or as one of 2.2 million held in U.S. prisons.
I have visited Cuba, have you? It’s a wonderful country. Its people are desperately impoverished. I blame the US embargo for their poverty. That, plus the harsh and failed communist policies that bankrupted the country and made it completely dependent on the Soviet Union. I long for the day when Cuba and the U.S. have normal relations and when the Cuban people are able to hold a free election.
Castro was a disaster. Dictatorship is a disaster.
Cuba wasn’t “completely dependent on the Soviet Union.” Despite being under siege by the U.S., Cuba has survived thirty years past the demise of the U.S.S.R. The poverty rate in the U.S. in 2022 is about 14%, a high number but lower than that of Cuba. How much lower would Cuba’s poverty rate be if the U.S. would end its illegal, immoral sanctions? (I’ve never been to Cuba, but I don’t believe that means my opinion holds any less weight than if I’d spent time there.)
If you visited Cuba, you would see how terribly impoverished the people are. The poverty rate is far above 50%. The official statistics lie. The best job in Cuba is to be a bartender in a hotel, where you can get tips from foreigners. Even doctors are paid wages just above the poverty line. The government decides everything. And the government is a dictatorship. It’s useless to have universal literacy when all reading is censored. Even the internet is censored.
I bought beautiful artwork in Cuba, and sent the payment to Swiss bank acccounts. I had excellent meals in restaurants that were pretending not to exist. There is a beautiful spirit in the Cuban people. They long to be free. Under Obama, it was possible to visit. Trump tried to cut off tourism. Go if you can. I know a Cuban travel agent in NYC who can arrange it.
Vera, and James Eales—
It’s an interesting contrast. Yes, there was 20thC US exploitation of Havana area, we ran it like gangs run a ghetto. Meanwhile we had long been running the country as a profitable sugar exporter to US– probably a better focus on the exploitation of Cuba, which had already been going on for centuries.
That started with Spain in 16thC, hand-in-hand with African slave trade. Post Sp-Amer War, US invested, developed vast Cuban production capabilities—which collapsed (along with sugar’s vertical monopoly/ processing in US) in the Great Depression. US tariffs in 1930’s piled on & restricted Cuban sugar imports, leading directly to 1st Cuban revolution in ‘30s, then to 2nd [communist] in 1959.
Castro tried to diversify the country toward industrialization and other crops, but failed; meanwhile as Cuba returned to all-sugar production, US embargoed them so they turned to Soviets, & hadn’t enough clout to negotiate a good deal. USSR bore down; Cuba went further & further in debt to them. Then USSR collapsed, & Cuba’s sugar exports with it. [Read up on this period in Cuban history. It was essentially a famine, and 10s of 1000s died in an epidemic of a neuropathy [blindness, crippling] caused by nutritive deficiencies seen before only in SE Asian POW’s & Haitian slaves].
And the US embargo continued. Cuba’s sugar exports continue today at about 1/2 of what they need to produce in order to maintain anything but a very poor country.
I don’t see any heroes here at all.
Cuba was an American swamp with an impoverished indigenous population before the revolution. I remember seeing a photograph of Nixon, Battista, and one of the big mob bosses (was it Sam Giancana?) arm-in-arm in a casino in Havana. The embargo has been a tragedy for the people of Cuba and it’s simply evil. They have accomplished amazing things given this. It’s long, long past time to normalize relations and stop being driven by idiotic ideology on both sides.
Bob,
I agree about Cuba. I was there on vacation in 2013 and loved the island and its people. Our embargo has been a complete failure. We should lift it and normalize relations. Cuban people need to lead normal lives, ideally free of the thugs who run the country.
I would love to sit in a club and listen to some Cuban jazz and smoke a Cuban cigar sometime before I die! Agreed about the thugs. But the folks who insist on this cruel embargo are also thugs. So glad you had this opportunity, Diane! I freaking love, love, love Cuban music and food!
I have dozens of photos of lovingly restored American autos from the 1950s, beautiful leather upholstery—-in vivid colors. All from Havana. Many tourists in Havana, but almost all European and South American. No credit cards, no dollars, no internet.
The Cuban people I met love Americans, treat Castro as a relic of no meaning in their lives. The “revolution” is a bad joke.
Wonderful!!!
Diane—I have always loved any recent video we can get from Cuba that show those nostalgic old American cars continually restored to working condition by clever craftsmen. This is something one long saw in Mexico as well, decades ago. They too have that plus of no ice/ snow—so no salt or calcium chloride, thus no rusting body [the thing that killed the ’56 Chevy I inherited from a great-uncle who rarely drove, once I got it on the road for a few years in the late ‘60s]. I spent time in Mexico soon after, & saw many US-made vehicles from the ‘40s & early ‘50s tooling along. I was inspired, reading a Cuban novel that took place in the ‘90s, that locals had such tooling craftsmanship that they could just keep re-modeling replacement parts & keep those babies moving.
The resourcefulness of the Cuban people has been astonishing. But this embargo is a humanitarian disaster. It needs to stop. It’s shameful to continue it. We need openness and dialogue with the regime there. That’s how, over time, we get change.
Vera– This reminds me a little bit of the radical change in Chile’s public education system that was promulgated under Pinochet [as part of the neoliberal overhaul of national politics], implemented by students educated by Milton Friedman et al at the U of Chicago School of Economics. Obviously the philosophical & political underpinnings were very different. But in both Chile and Cuba, basic education—especially literacy– was expanded widely, stretching right into remote rural areas occupied by previously barely-educated indigenous people. A good thing. However, in both countries, the expansion of education had to be squeezed into a box: implemented according to the prevailing political philosophy, as well as to the dictatorship’s squelching of human rights.
In Chile, neoliberal privatization of public ed inevitably led to perks for the rich & unaffordable fees for middle-class and poor; ed results were not improved overall, and rich-poor gap widened. It is interesting that in Chile, eventual regime change targeting more democratic rights and better distribution of wealth was led by educational issues: years of street demonstrations by students, demanding a return to fully tax-supported public education for all. Serious unrest set in in 2019; today efforts are focused on an overhaul of the national constitution that was re-written “neoliberal” in 1980.
It is harder to know what is going on currently in the educational sphere in Cuba [perhaps you can elucidate]. No question we’ve had an influx to US of experienced, well-trained Cuban doctors for at least the last 15 yrs. What of the country as a whole, and other specialties? What little I know is encapsulated in Padura’s “the Man Who Loved Dogs,” [pub 2009; Eng transl 2014] which shows how ‘90’s Cuban ed worked for protagonist & associates. Academic reputations were made or broken according to kowtowing to political policy/ govt whims; same goes for job opportunities for the educated. But the story took place 30 yrs ago, and during the famine consequent to the fall of the USSR [which had turned Cuba into a single-crop nation that could barely subsist without its primary sugar-buyer].
Any insights?
To learn about Castro’s Cuba, read Reinaldo Arena’s “Before Night Falls.” It’s a deeply moving, beautifully written account of life in those days.
Thanks Diane, will be ordering that book.
I dunno, if I were the guy who brought Michelle Rhee to fame and fortune, I’d either be on my knees begging forgiveness or I’d at least have the decency to slink off with my tail between my legs never to be heard from again.
Anyway, as to this particular post, does anyone here really object to the idea that what kids are taught forms their beliefs which, in turn, controls the direction of the country? I think that’s pretty self evident. There is near unanimity (except among certain progressive and “unschooling” movements) that adults have to decide what kids get taught. So the issue is simply the difference between what different factions want taught in schools. Some people want CRT to be taught, some don’t. Some want the Bible to be taught, some don’t. There are very few schools/educators that actively support kids learning whatever they want to learn however they want to learn it.
So the idea that Hitler and Castro belong in the same category here is ludicrous. If you actually bother to look at the theories and philosophies of Hitler vs. Castro, you would find remarkable alignment between Hitler and red state governments, but you would find nearly exactly the opposite from Castro. Castro wanted his people to know of the struggles of the oppressed and marginalized. Hitler wanted his people to know of the “glories” of the Aryan “master race”. These are not the same things. Those of you who believe (like me) that some form of “CRT” should be taught – that children should understand the evils of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination; that children should understand LGBTQ+ issues; etc. – would find nothing objectionable in Castro’s approach to education.
This article is ridiculous. We might as well compare Howard Zinn with Joseph Goebbels.
In John’s defense, he did end his long run of Rhee features with one that exposed her cheating and her cruelty.
“Some people want CRT to be taught, some don’t. “
This is not true. CRT is an ill-defined catch all for anything the following of Chris Rufo wants to think it is. No one wants it taught because no one can define it without doing linguistic homage to Rufo. Ole Derek Bell is long forgotten in this rush to societal judgement.
We are dealing with a different matter now than we were in the days of Rhee, although this one is a derivative of that one. In the days of Rhee, a bad view of schools and teachers was meant to discredit public ed for the benefit of private groups who wanted to get their claws into education money. Now the goal of propaganda like the CRT controversy seeks to undermine support for all democratic institutions, drumming up support for limiting the very force—parental control—that it purports to promulgate.
Roy,
Thank you! That sentence was intended to normalize the far right anti-CRT rhetoric and hate.
The next sentence was: “Some want the Bible to be taught, some don’t.”
Hey folks, if you understand why some people might not want schools to teach the New Testament beliefs in elementary schools, you can understand why other very nice folks might not want their kids being taught Critical Race Theory in elementary school.
Talk about promoting right wing ideology.
Imagine if some Democrat billionaires started a campaign to convince parents all over America that public school students are being taught far right Christian ideology and forced prayer in their public schools.
Sure it isn’t happening, but what if the media jumped on the bandwagon and kept interviewing the same small group of parents connected to Democrat politicians, presenting these connected parents as representing all parents who are now very upset that public schools are forcing kids to learn far right Christian ideology about how women are subservient to men and girls in school must do whatever the boys order them to do.
What if the media kept showing parents concerned about public schools teaching girls they are subservient to boys and “informing” parents across the country that Republicans want girls in public schools to be taught that they must always obey the boys at all time. And the only way to stop their children from being taught this far right Christian ideology that girls must always obey boys is to vote out all Republicans and vote in Democrats who don’t want public schools forced to teach students that girls must always be subservient to boys.
But Democrats don’t blatantly lie like that. Republicans do. So she normalizes the Republican lies.
Being against CRT is just like being against teaching the Bible in public schools. It’s just like being against Republicans who are demanding that girls be taught they are inferior to boys and must always obey them.
Being against CRT is just like being against teaching the Bible in public schools. It’s just like being against pedophile teachers protected by unions.
Being “against” something that doesn’t exist but scares people? That’s right wing propaganda.
Roy are you for or against the teachers’ union protecting pedophile teachers?
That’s right wing framing of the issue, where any answer you give reinforces the lie that the teachers’ union is protecting pedophile teachers.
We need to change the framing of the CRT debate, not do what this person did and legitimize that false framing.
Thank you, Roy, for your usual clarity.
Let me add that CRT means teaching about racism.
Period.
People who are racist don’t want their children or anyone’s children to learn about racism.
YES: we should be exposing the change because seeing it is vital
Roy—maybe I’m too cynical. But I don’t see any difference between Rhee and today’s political operators like Rufo, or Rep govrs/ state-houses legislating against CRT or whatever fantasy pubsch bugaboo. I don’t see any difference between then and now. They’re all just grandstanding to distract & otherwise hornswoggle the electorate, while advancing their actual agenda to blow up pubsch ed/ privatize it [/public institutions/ privatize them]— which they are all being paid handsomely by Koch or whoever to promote. Hey some of them may not even be paid for taking this position! But it amounts to the same thing, if they’re doing it just to ensure votes from the 2% rw libertarian anti-pubsch fringe they need to put them over the hump in the next election [or at minimum avoid being primaried by tinnier-foiledhats].
Yes, Reps have chosen the pubschs as illustrative scapegoat for all public goods/ govt institutions. Rhee was doing that too. Perhaps the scapegoating has become more transparent to the electorate since “The Big Lie”– maybe they get now, this is about all govt-run institutions. The low-info wanna-have-autocrats-in-charge voters always cottoned to that vibe. Music to their ears.
nycpsp– I think you are describing the “when did you stop beating our wife?”-style of media analysis. Any justification one gives will be wrong.
Many of your posts excoriate “liberal” MSM for framing issues from the Rep POV, with Dem defensive answers filling in the blanks to provide “both-siderism.”
The issue, as I see it, is that Reps have long [at least since Gingrich, if not since Limbaugh] been using the “attack-dog” approach. Reps take the initiative with an over-the-top rwnj claim, backed by pretzel-logic and twisted ‘facts.’ Dems take a deep breath, & rebut with real facts.
The over-the-top Rep claim is news, because it’s bizarre [“man bites dog”], and the Dem response creates a “conflict,” making it doubly news. Reporters are required to recite what was said/ occurred, in chronological order: Rep nutjob claim will always be the first item stated. Dem response will follow—needed, to make some sense out of the nonsensical Rep claim. Thus the paradigm, which you describe as “MSM always frames the issues from the Rep point of view.” The problem is not with MSM reporting. The problem is that Reps make up outlandish claims/ invent issues, and throw them out there into the public like spaghetti, to see what will stick to the wall.
In 2013 John Merrow thought Michelle Rhee was doing a good job.
Within a few years, Merrow had recognized the evidence that Michelle Rhee was doing improper things and his reporting changed to realizing how dishonest the charter movement had been. Merrow did that at the expense of his career.
Compare Merrow following the evidence and recognizing his mistake to someone who in 2016 was insisting that IT DID NOT MATTER whether a Republican or a democrat filled an open Supreme Court seat and all the open seats that came after it.
6 years later that person still won’t acknowledge she was wrong but instead has doubled down on her grave error of judgement.
John Merrow, despite his flaws, has an integrity that you will never understand. You double down to defend Trump or Putin even when the evidence shows how wrong you were to invoke a lie about Putin doing good by invading a Ukraine overrun with Nazis. Merrow spends his time trying to CORRECT the false information he previous believed. You spend your time continuing to promote your false information.
That makes you very different than Diane Ravitch and John Merrow. You have a lot more in common with the GOP Governors and Senators who don’t care if their facts aren’t true as long as their false “facts” help them demonize the people they hate so much. And those people include trans teens and young adults.
When you condone lies in service to getting people to hate the people you hate, don’t be surprised when your normalization of those lies empowers those who use those lies to destroy the people you love.
Using lies to destroy your “enemy” — Democrats — sounds nice until the people whose lies you condone turn those lies on you and your family.
John Merrow isn’t a liar — which is why he changed his mind when he realized he was wrong. Those who double down on their lies when they know they are wrong are a different breed altogether.
It’s a good thing to change your mind and admit you were wrong. John Merrow was enthusiastic about Rhee. Then he realized she was a fraud and he became a critic. That took courage and integrity.
Authoritarianism is about a lot more than CRT. It is about control of people and what they think. DeSantis is well on his way to fascist behavior. He cannot tolerate those that disagree with him. He retaliates against anyone that dares challenge him. He fired Rebeka Jones, a data scientist, that tried to report accurate numbers on Covid. Like the Chinese who DeSantis detests, he wants to turn Florida’s public schools into “reeducation camps” for children that have liberal leaning parents.
DeSantis fired the Hillsborough County attorney this morning for failing to enforce DeSantis’ bigoted law about gender and sexuality.
The authoritarianism is the commonality, not the particular dogma behind it. Authoritarianism, no matter their stripes, want to control what people think. I find this response to the blog rather disingenuous and simplistic.
cx; authoritarians
So true, dienne. Just HOW did Fidel Castro come into this mix of madness? Brought the literacy rate of Cuba up to–what–85, 95%?
Did Michelle Rhee do this? Hitler?
(Oh, yeah: he burned books.)
Fidel Castro raised the literacy rate. But students read only propaganda. If their parents expressed criticism of Fidel, they were likely to go to jail. Fidel was a dictator. He created concentration camps for gays. Horrible man. Terrible authoritarian.
Hitler was ripping off St. Thomas Aquinas with that quote.
Christo-fascism is a significant part of the campaign that is costing us are freedom. It has more traction in the midwest and south than in the Northeast which explains the success of the GOP in red states.
At the Scielo site, an article, “The new official contents of sex education in Mexico: laicism in the crosshairs,” provides an explanation that is broad in scope and that covers the spheres of religious influence, including in the U.S.
An excellent article, Linda. I, too, highly recommend it.
Bob.
I came across a site that interested me and might interest you.
It’s Righting America.net, “a scholarly conversation about Christianity, culture and politics in the U.S.” The site started as promotion for the book of the same title (connected to Ky.’s Creation Museum). Then, it became a posting site for scholarly work. From a tab about the site,
“(The authors) were astonished and thrilled,” to see 6 faculty from the University of Dayton (Catholic) contributing their articles. The latest post (Aug. 4, 2022) is an interview with a SMU professor who wrote the new book, “Hijacking History, how the Christian Right teaches history and why it matters.” A previous contributor to the site is Prof. Adam Laats of SUNY Binghamton. He’s written 4 books about education and his writing appears in WaPo, The Atlantic, etc. In my reading of their work, the two omit current Catholic right wing political activism. A reviewer described Laats as unique, chronicling school reform as a conservative project as well as a liberal one.
Btw- does anybody reading my comment know if Laats’ time spent teaching in K-12 (10 years in Milwaukee) was at a public school? His description of the employment is generic.
The Righting America site has a tab about the “Cedarville University scandal” … hmmm. Cedarville is a Christian university.
Laats taught at a Catholic school.
It only counts if he were aware it, which I very much doubt. Fascists don’t have to study history, they’re convinced they make it.
Do you have the Aquinas quotation you were thinking of ready to hand, SilverApple? If so, can you post it? Thanks.
there’s an “AND” here.
These guys want to control schools and what they perceive as brainwashing and liberal values – and some do want to perpetuate their “values” and limited thinking on the part of kids – – –
AND
They realized they can get a mess of voters and donations in localities across the country via local board meetings with microphones and a beat reporters. It’s about STAYING IN OFFICE and getting votes for them – not only ideology.
Wait, what- about your first paragraph-
In 2009, a John Paul II preparatory school was built in the midwest. Each person can read the info at the site and form his or her own conclusions about the significance of what is stated for a pluralistic nation that has a commitment to the majority rule that characterizes a democracy.
This is NOT majority rule.
We’re seeing boards who cater to a room of loud voices while the other 99% don’t show up to defame them.
These are boards whose seats are bought or appointed by right wing often dark money sources, boards whose members
You want pluralism, majority rules – then everyone votes!
Put these policies on the general election ballot and see how it goes:
“Can’t teach slavery” because white kids will feel guilty
Sex education classes can’t teach contraception
* Can’t use the term “slave” (texas)
* Can’t answer why Billy is making Valentines for his or her Two Mommies
* Give teachers guns
* Can’t teach factual, primary source U.S. History prior to 1776
* It’s ok for the football coach to participate in religion-specific prayer every day at practice which places inordinate pressure on athletes who’d do anything to get a spot on the team
* No training for teachers on bias – ANY KIND OF BIAS – disability awareness, race, gender… (Where were the complaints when there were NO GIRLS IN ADVANCED MATH CLASSES and parents wanted that changed)
Mao Zedong should be on that list. Before Mao’s Cultural Revolution, his Little Red Book of quotes became the textbook in China’s public schools starting in first grade. That was the first step. Children/students were rewarded for memorizes Mao’s quotations in his Little Red Book.
When Mao officially launched his Cultural Resolution, he didn’t use the police or China’s army to crack down. He used children, and the PLA stayed in their army and navy bases. The police also turned a blind eye to tens of millions of organized children turning China upside down. Those children denounced their parents, teachers, neighbors and then persecuted them.
“The original 1964 production of the Little Red Book was itself a type of political theatre. It was also intimately linked to the behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring that would ultimately be unleashed in China’s Cultural Revolution. In the end, it would become the symbol of this ten-year period of chaos.”
https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-maos-little-red-book-and-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it-51330
My former wife (we’re still friends) is Anchee Min. She grew up in Mao’s China. She was a member of the Red Guard. She grew up memorizing Mao’s quotations
But, that programing from Mao’s Little Red Book started to change the day she saw President Nixon in the motorcade visiting China in the early 1970s. “What?” she thought, confused. “That face is the face of our enemy. How can he be our friend now?”
When she arrived in the United States in the 1980s on a student visa to attend college in Chicago, Anchee realized that Mao had programed China’s children to do horrible things. While in college, she wrote “Red Azalea”, her memoir about growing up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Red Azalea was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and is one of the book used in some universities across the US that offer classes that focus on China.
If you want to read what its like to grow up where the government is programing the children to become a militant force for destruction, read Anchee’s memoir. She also wrote a sequel memoir to Red Azalea. That memoir focuses mostly on her life in the US and it also isn’t pretty. It’s called “The Cooked Seed.”
http://www.ancheemin.com/
Thanks for the links.
Thanks for sharing this, Lloyd.
Scene from the Alex Jones trial about the blatant lies he was saying about the children who died at Sandy Hook not existing.
Judge points out that Alex Jones made false statements on the stand that very day and orders him to stop.
Alex Jones: “I believe what I said is true, so I…”.
Judge stops him right there: “You believe everything you say is true but it isn’t. Your beliefs do not make something true. That is what we are doing here. Just because you claim to think something is true does not make it true.”
NYT journalists covering current events will be very confused by this exchange. It goes against everything they believe about the importance of “both sides equal” reporting. Their story of this exchange, if they bother, would no doubt be written like this:
Alex Jones told the Court that he didn’t say anything untrue. A biased person with an agenda disagreed.
Dear so-called liberal media. Please listen to this judge. Just because a right wing Republican claims to “believe” that something completely false is true and doubles down on proclaiming that something false is true even after being shown copious evidence that it is not true, does not give reporters driven by their extreme fear of right wing criticism license to report every story as if truth and lie is simply an “opinion” that someone “believes”.
This judge put reporters to shame because today’s so-called liberal media believes that it is what a Republican says they believe that must be presented as having equal weight with what is actually true.
The reason Christopher Rufo can tell journalists exactly what he is doing is because he knows exactly how cowardly journalists at the so-called liberal media are. Whatever one of their beloved right wing sources or very important right wing parents “believe” is true about CRT or public schools will be presented as having equal weight as the truth. With the truth reported only as if it is opinion from a very biased Republican-hating source.
Thank you, Judge.
Thank you, NYC PSP. Exactly.
THX for the summary, NYCpsp. Heard this on newsradio & just shook my head (because I was driving). Now THAT judge should be on SCotUS!
It’s a disgrace that the jury awarded the parents compensatory damages of only $4.1 million. I hope the punitive damages are much much higher. He takes in hundreds of millions annually selling fake supplements for vigor and “manhood” and survival gear.
How does such a vile human being live with himself?
I agree it seemed outrageously low. I think (hope) that is only one parent’s award, not shared with others who have sued separately. And I agree that the punitive damages should be much higher, but since it is in a state that limits punitive damages, I don’t know if that is possible.
It is an award for only one set of parents, and punitive damages have not yet been set. Eight other parents sued and their cases have not been heard. Jones’s guilt is no longer an issue.
Because the words “vile” & “evil” are interchangeable?!
This is how it generally works, Diane. The compensatory damages are relatively small; the punitive damages are relatively large. Totally with you. A completely vile person. I hope this bankrupts him.
Just proves one thing: not every single thing that Dick Cheney ever said was a lie.
That now makes one thing that he said that is the truth.
exactly what I was thinking
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Assume power and dictate to his teacher what to teach him about fishing and you pay to feed him for a lifetime in your prison after he never joins the massive protests against your oppressive rule.
Sorry, I forgot to remove the word ‘never’ after revising that sentence.
Ah, and with that correction, beautifully said. Glad I’m not the only one who makes these boneheaded errors. Usually, it’s because I partially but not completely corrected/changed something.
They can create their fundamentalist madrassas, and kids will react by thinking that everything they are taught in school is b—sh—.
Kids are already calling bullshit.
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore!
I thought about this long and hard and the answer is so obvious: they put their pants on one leg at a time. Or at least that’s my most reasonable assumption.
As a retired special education teacher, I did not leave because of the kids. I left because of the way I was treated by most administrators in my school system. I am a person with high functioning Autism who connected with children with Autism, however, the admin. wanted to treat these kids the exact same way as their peers. You might say that is what we are supposed to do, however, then we wouldn’t need IEPs which demonstrate their specific needs. I needed a break so I retired.
Now, I understand they are begging for retirees to return as there is a massive shortage of teachers. But I read the other day that a local administrator had said that teachers don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Exactly. I was so tired of being micromanaged constantly.
I believe in public education but not in being micromanaged. I know how to teach. I wish school systems would stop constantly buying new curriculums and forcing the teachers to use them no matter what. I believe as a Christian in a free country. A country where you have the right to choose your own religion. A country where you help each other to live in peace and harmony with each other. I respect those who are Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, Native American Spiritual, etc, etc. We are all children of God. And believe me God is present everywhere, even in schools. I am the only teacher in my school who read the American Girl “Melody” book which iwas full of religion, black heroes, sad stories like the bombing at the Alabama church which killed several young black girls, etc. out loud to my special kids. Oh, but that wasn’t the curriculum.
I advocated vocally for my students and they just didn’t like it. My administration just bullied me.
So sorry, Ms. Horsley, that you had this experience. It is all too common these days. There’s a LOT of micromanagement. I taught many years ago, then had a career in publishing, and then returned to teaching. I was astonished by how much autonomy teachers had LOST during the intervening years, by how little they were respected, by how they almost no voice, by how they were told in detail precisely what they were to do and when, by how unprofessional their treatment had become. It was shocking, appalling. I suspect that this is a boiled frog phenomenon; things changed little-by-little, almost imperceptibly, over time. Now, it’s so bad, I don’t see how anyone would want to teach.